The manufacture of composite ceramic materials with a glass-ceramic or ceramic matrix obtained by the sol-gel process and reinforced by silicon carbide fibers is described in particular in the patent application FR 89 15987 published under the No. 2 655 327 and in the European patent application No. 88 403231.9 published under the No. 0 322 295 of the present Applicant.
The silicon carbide (SiC) fiber generally used in the production of composites, in particular by making use of the sol-gel process and which is essentially and even totally constituted by SiC, such as, for example, the fiber commercialized by the NIPPON-CARBON company under the name NICALON.RTM. does have a certain number of drawbacks concerning its implementation when used with the known methods, such as filament winding or weaving, for preparing the fibrous reinforcement. In fact, these methods result in frequent ruptures on pulleys, dies and other means for placing of the fiber, these ruptures being linked to the presence of defects of discontinuity type of the monofilaments constituting the fiber. These defects, which do not exist in the fiber, as commercialized, appear during the fiber desizing operation which is essential prior to implementing the process for manufacturing the composite (see, for example, patent application FR 2 655 327, page 13, lines 28 to 34).